It is October on a wooded lot in Hot Springs Village. A surveyor drove a wooden stake into the dirt for the center of your future house pad. You own an acre of oak and pine on a slope. The ground slopes down toward the lake.
Rock is right under the soil surface. You need space cleared for a house and a new driveway. You also want to keep a few good trees standing near the property lines.
This is a common lot clearing job in Hot Springs AR. The machine will roll onto the property soon. You have work to do before that engine starts.
Walk the property with us first
Paul Clower owns Clower Tree Service. He visits every property before we make a single cut. He meets you on the lot for a detailed look at the ground. You look at the surveyor stakes together.
You look at the slope and the rock outcroppings. You point out the property lines and the corners. We agree on the drop zone for the brush. We agree on the access route for the heavy equipment.
We plan the way the skid steer will enter the yard from the street. We calculate the space needed for the bucket truck outriggers. This first visit gives us the whole picture. We quote the job after we see the actual ground.
We provide a tree removal for new construction plan that fits your exact site. Every estimate we write is free. You tie brightly colored tape on the trees you want to keep. We mark the dead pines that need to come down.
We plan around the future septic tank location. We note where the water lines will run. We verify the power pole locations.
Choose the right keeper trees on your lot
The tree species matters. Some trees handle stress poorly, and some thrive in open spaces. You want a healthy tree with a straight trunk. On a lot crowded with cedars, read our eastern red cedar guide before we visit.
Look closely at the distance from the house pad. A tree right next to the future foundation loses roots to the digging. That tree may die in a few years. Choose trees further out by the property line.
Look at the base of the trunk for rot. A tree with a hollow cavity in the trunk needs to go. We take down the weak trees. You keep the strong ones.
Look up into the branches of your oaks. You want strong branch angles on your keepers. According to Gerald Klingaman, retired Arkansas Extension horticulturist, “White oaks (including post oaks if grown in the open) tend to have limbs with wide branch angles which approach 90 degrees.”
Those branches resist storm damage and ice weight. Look for the opposite problem in other trees. Again quoting Klingaman, “Narrow crotch angles (those less than 45 degrees) often form when oaks grow crowded together, making them more susceptible to breakage.”
A tree with a narrow fork is a bad keeper. The wind splits a narrow fork easily.
How far tree roots reach and where the fence goes
The roots grow outward to find water. The roots stay close to the surface to find oxygen. Most tree roots stay near the surface. This shallow root system is fragile.
A heavy machine crushes this shallow system, and crushed roots stay crushed. Protect the dirt above the roots.
The roots spread out much further than most people think. According to Colorado State University Extension, “The root zone extends horizontally from the tree for a distance at least equal to the tree’s height.” You have to protect this area. The roots feed the tree.
If you crush the roots with heavy machines, the tree starves. You need to calculate the protection zone. The CSU Extension gives a simple formula for this math. They state, “For each 1 inch of trunk diameter, extend the protection area an additional 1 ft.”
A tree with a twenty inch trunk needs a twenty foot protection circle all the way around. You must mark this boundary clearly. A line in the dirt fails.
The CSU Extension advises, “Post highly-visible and strong barricades and signs around the trees and areas to be protected.” You put a physical fence on that circle. The fence tells everyone on the site to stay back.
Drive metal posts into the ground. Wrap bright orange construction fencing around the posts.
Keep trucks and dirt outside the protection fence
The construction site gets busy once plumbers arrive in heavy vans and framers arrive with flatbed trailers. Everyone looks for a shady spot to park.
You must enforce the fence rule. Tell every contractor to park on the street. Tell the delivery drivers to drop the lumber on the future driveway. The dirt inside the fence is off limits.
The fence only works if everything stays outside of it. Do not park heavy pickup trucks under the branches. The truck weight presses the dirt down.
The CSU Extension explains: “Construction traffic compacts soil most severely near the surface, an area where the majority of tree roots are located.” Compacted soil holds no oxygen. The roots suffocate in hard dirt.
Do not store fill dirt inside the fence. Do not dump spoil piles near the trunk. The CSU Extension warns, “Any activity that changes the soil condition and structure is detrimental to tree health.”
You must also keep the utility trench far away. Tell your builder exactly where the water line and the power line will go. Tell the builder to route those trenches completely outside the fence.
The CSU Extension states, “Trenching for utilities can also cause substantial root damage and should be done far away from existing trees.” A backhoe cuts right through the support roots. The Arbor Day Foundation adds, “Construction and trenching within a tree’s root zone is a leading cause of hazardous trees.”
The trencher damages the structural foundation of the tree. This creates tree roots and foundation damage risks later on. Keep the trench out in the open yard.
Why fall and winter are clearing season in Garland County
Fall and winter are the best times to clear a wooded lot in Garland County. Summer brings extreme heat to the area. The heat stresses the trees. The dry soil cracks open.
Winter brings rain and cooler temperatures. The trees rest in the winter. The sap goes down in the trunks. The branches weigh less in the winter.
This makes the cutting cleaner. The ground is much firmer in November than in April. Hard ground supports the skid steer tracks better. Firm dirt prevents deep ruts in the future yard.
The woods are also safer for our five person crew. The ticks die off after the first hard freeze. The poison ivy drops its leaves. We see clearly through the bare brush.
We spot the metal property pins easily. We spot the hidden rocks on the slopes. Lake lots present a specific challenge in the spring. Spring rain makes the clay slick.
A heavy machine slides on wet clay. A sliding machine damages the ground. The steel tracks get solid footing in the winter.
We clear lots all year long. Fall and winter simply make the job smoother for everyone involved.
What our crew does on clearing day
Our five person crew arrives early in the morning with the heavy machinery. We own all of our equipment. We bring a skid steer, a bucket truck, a wood chipper and an equipment trailer. We hold a safety meeting before we start.
We review the plan one more time. We check the tape on the keeper trees. We check the orange fences. We respect your orange protection zones.
We run the skid steer strictly around the outside of those zones. We push the brush into piles away from the keeper trees. We use a mini skid steer for the tight spots. This small machine gets through narrow gaps easily.
It navigates around the rocks and the slopes. It solves many gate width and equipment access problems on residential lots. The mini skid steer carries logs out of the woods safely. We cut the unwanted trees down.
We feed the small limbs into the wood chipper. We move the heavy logs to the equipment trailer. We offer professional stump grinding to remove the bases. The stump grinder turns the solid base into wood chips.
We haul the big brush away. When we need an outside specialist for a specific task, we bring one in. We leave the keeper trees standing on undisturbed ground. We leave your lot ready for the foundation crew.
We offer all tree services to prepare your ground for the builders.
What to watch for in your keeper trees over the next few years
A tree hurt during clearing takes a long time to show damage. A bumped tree might look fine today. The leaves might look green this summer. The damage happens slowly underground.
The root system shrinks. The tree starves. You need to watch your keepers closely for a few years. The CSU Extension explains, “Trees may be slow to respond to stress and decline and dieback may gradually appear over a period of years.”
Watch the top branches in the spring. Dead wood at the very top means root damage below. The roots stop sending water all the way up. Look at the leaves next August.
Yellow leaves in the summer signal trouble. Small leaves signal stress. Watch the bark on the main trunk. Look for large splits in the wood.
The Arbor Day Foundation warns, “Two vertical cracks on opposite sides of the tree can indicate root injury and is extremely dangerous.” The tree loses its grip on the soil. Fungi on the roots means severe rot. A storm can push a damaged tree over onto your new roof.
A dead tree drops heavy limbs on the driveway. Call us if you see dead branches or cracked bark. We handle the dangerous cuts to keep your house safe. We can remove a dangerous tree before it falls.
Free estimates in Hot Springs and Garland County
We clear residential lots in Hot Springs, Hot Springs Village, Garland County and Malvern. We are bonded and insured. We have ten years of experience working trees in Garland County.
Before we arrive for a visit, go around your property and tie a piece of tape around the trunks you want to save. Write down questions about the property lines. Tell the builder where the septic field goes. We will look at those keepers and plan the job around them.
Clower Tree Service is located at 363 Kaufman Rd, Hot Springs, AR 71913. You can reach us by phone at 501.538.1606 or by email at info@clowertrees.com. Call us today or visit our contact page to ask for your free estimate.